The 100 4×05: Burns of Steel

I spent the weekend voting like it was my job in Zimbios March Madness poll for Bellarke so I had no time for actual things like writing this article. But that’s over and here I am with my very late review of The 100‘s fifth episode, The Tinder Box. Because this is so late, I’m not going to go as in depth as I usually do, so let’s hit the highlights, shall we?

The Doctors, The Engineer, and The Wardrobe(or the ship):

The episode opens with Abby and Jackson trying to figure out how Becca was able to formulate nightblood while Raven listens and then does a really solid rendition of “I Believe I Can Fly” aka she literally floats up in to the air and wonders about. Initially, you wonder why the hell Jackson and Abby aren’t losing their shit about this before you realize that Raven is actually hallucinating and seizing down below. Abby and Jackson rush to her aid and are able to stabilize her in time, but they’re concerned about her mental abilities. Because Raven now has Alie!Brain, she is super-charged, firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, this can kill her eventually, a fact that Raven is seemingly fine with as long as she’s able to help save everyone. We learn that the reason Raven has Alie!Brain is because she was unplugged from the City of Light too quickly with the EMP, so it’s like she still has bits of Alie in her brain. This brings the question: OH MY GOD, WHAT ABOUT ABBY?!?! She seems to be fine up until the very end when she hallucinates a radiation soaked Clarke. Oh nooooooooo’s.

The good thing to come from Raven’s seizure/stroke is that the Brain Squad figure out that they can replicate Becca’s nightblood formula. In space. Abby is skeptical, pointing out that they can’t actually go to space but Raven is like, “But wait, there’s more!” and unveils a two person space pod hidden in the lab. It seems as if the only place they can go. is up.

A Lonely Figure Stands Alone On A Beach…or does she:

Roan is pissed. He is feeling betrayed by Skaikru and is heading toward them to take Arkadia. Whether that means he’s planning on strapping it on the back of a horse remains to be seen. What would have been a surprise attack to our heroes wasn’t thanks to a miraculously alive Octavia who was able to warn them in time. With O’s warning fresh in her mind, Clarke steps away from her semi-awkward conversation with Niylah (where I can only assume that “Is your radio charged?” is code for “So, booty-call, YOLO, amirite?”) and takes her merry band of delinquents down to meet Ice Nation on their trek. A surprised Echo insists that there was no way Octavia would have survived both her sword and that fall while Roan gives some sass face. With the others hidden on the rocky mountains, Clarke asks Roan to talk. This doesn’t go over so well and Ice Nation all point their weapons at her. But what’s this? Clarke’s super stealth squad all turn on the lasers of their guns showing Roan and his army that Clarke is not alone and they are in their crosshairs. Alas, Roan is not to be counted out just yet. At his command, Echo tells the Ice Nation guards to bring forth their prisoners. Kane’s HILARIOUS walking aside, this moment was so emotionally charged. Clarke has spent two episodes worried about Bellamy and where he is. And honestly, with the camera focusing going back and forth between the two of them it was really a moment of, “Kane? What’s a Kane?”

Anywho, seeing her 99 and her Chancellor on their knees with swords at their throats, Clarke pleaded with Roan one more time for a private tete a tete. With a long suffering sigh, Roan agrees disregarding Echo’s insistence that it could be a trap stating that it was a trap and they were already in it.

Roan and Clarke have their tense conversation where they go back and forth in a game of verbal chicken (“I was willing to sacrifice my own mother to stop Alie.”…”I did sacrifice mine to protect you.”), they eventually come to an agreement to split Arkadia 50/50 should they have to. They seal this deal with a bloody handshake which is just so unsanitary and call it a day.

Roan and Clarke go back and forth in a game of verbal chicken... #The100 S04E05
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MEANWHILE, RILEY, WTF:

While Roan and Clarke are having their battle of wills pow wow, our beloved and not at all random character Riley is losing his shit. He hates Ice Nation and with good reason. He was enslaved and tortured by them for who knows how long. In his fear, he wants both vengeance and to feel safe again. While Roan is walking across the beach to meet with Clarke he never lets his sight on him slip, finger just twitching at the trigger, even after being told many times to STAND. DOWN. Shortly after, he just disappears and Monty rushes down to the Ice Nation army to warn them so that should anything happen they know it’s a rogue and not them as a whole. Monty switches places with Bellamy as a prisoner (but not before confirming Bellamy’s hopeful suspicions that Octavia is actually alive after all) and Bellamy and Echo take off to find and stop Riley before he kills Roan. They do luckily get to him in time and during an anxiety ridden moment where it’s unclear if Bellamy is actually getting through to him, Riley finally stands down.

When Clarke and Roan come through and stumble across Bellamy and Echo they come to a quick and silent agreement to not mention the Riley situation to them just yet. The four of them begin discussing their plans regarding Arkadia until…..

Burn, baby, Burn: aka I can’t believe I sorta stanned you, Illian

Illian did a good thing in bringing a dying Octavia to Arkadia so that Clarke could save her life. His good deed stops there. While Octavia is recovering and everyone is distracted he walks around Arkadia and takes in all of technology that they have, technology that he loathes. Keeping in mind that Illian blames technology for everything and everyone that he has lost the audience can see the reasoning behind his actions. This however does not excuse them. In another act of vengeance, he douses the engine room of Arkadia with gasoline and despite Octavia and Niylah’s pleas for him to ‘for the love of God, DON’T”, he sets fire to it. The burning of Arkadia was both visually stunning and absolutely horrible. A large portion of this segment was watching our mains watch it burn to the ground. And again, we’re forced to remember it’s not just their protective shelter that went up in smoke, it was their home; their home for years in space and their home on the ground.

Bellamy, Clarke, Kane, and all of Ice Nation rushed to the scene after the initial explosion and we got a brief but heart-warming scene of Bellamy taking his not dead sister from Illian in to his arms and bringing her off to safety while Clarke got Niyah to safety before rushing back to them. Octavia was able to rasp out that she tried to stop Illian and then the three of them with the rest of the Arkadians watched their home go down in flames in a sequence that just seemed to get worse and worse as the fire grew. As an audience member, this moment was absolutely terrible. Personally, I’m pretty sure my mouth was open the entire time in horror as we all watched Arkadia fall. It wasn’t even the fact that it happened, because from the poster, we knew it was coming, but the fact that it happened so early in the season is astonishing. In the end, Roan and Echo shared a look that spoke to the audience’s mindset, “What now?”

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Torchwood Boy is just too damn funny. I adore his reactions. 10/10.

Unfortunately, The 100 won’t return with new episodes until March 15 but they will be re-airing 4×01, Echoes on March 8th. I, for one, cannot wait to see what happens next.

You can catch The 100 on The CW at 9/8c.

Like what you read? Heather will be writing more about The 100 regularly for Post Apocalyptic Media. Join our email list to stay updated by clicking here and be sure to follow us on Twitter. And while you’re waiting for the next article, stream some episodes of The 100 here.

Heather is a twenty-something wine drinker and coffee lover who tweets too much and sleeps too little. She resides near the beaches in Mississippi where she annoys her family and friends with her obsessions of fictional people. She has a full time job with a health package and everything but she always finds time to over-invest in TV Shows and is thrilled that she now gets to share these obsessions with the world.